University E-Sports Go Varsity

Playing video games is becoming less of a leisurely activity and more of an actual sport. The focus, strategy and teamwork that you can find in any sports team is shared by competitive gaming teams. These competitive gaming teams, or E-Sports teams, are becoming more popular around the world and are attracting the attention of important investors. One of these investors is the University of Utah, who began sponsoring their own E-Sports team earlier this year.

The University of Utah sponsoring their own E-Sports team is the first of its kind for its division, and they are excited to see where it goes. “E-Sports has had a dramatic rise in popularity in the U.S. over the last few years – especially on college campuses,” said A.J. Dimick, director of operations for the U’s new E-Sports program. “We think college E-Sports is a great opportunity and we want our students to be part of it.”

A Tiger Media Network journalist interviewed a few members of FHSU’s E-Sports team, which is a part of the Advanced Technologies Student’s Organization. One of their members told them, “We have an E-Sports team, and we have held a few tournaments. It would be cool if we could get something like that, but we would need players who would play consistently.” The team, called the TigerLan E-Sports Team, has about 20 members. Some play more than others, but the team is good enough to have their own jerseys. In order to become a member of the ATSO E-Sports Team, you must be a member of ATSO. ATSO meets on Wednesdays at 4:30 where the team plays games like Overwatch, League of Legends and World of Warcraft.